Kitchen remodeling
Bathroom remodeling
Home additions & ADU
Roofing
Windows & doors
Driveway & pavers
FenceFree written scope consultation - allowances, timeline, and change-order rules on paper before a single trade is scheduled
Fast, Reliable General Contractor Across San Francisco
A general contractor in San Francisco typically handles the full scope of a residential project, from pulling DBI permits and coordinating licensed trades to sourcing materials and managing the daily build schedule. San Bruno Construction serves the entire city, and our team is set up to handle the realities of San Francisco construction: soft-story retrofits on pre-1906 wood-frame stock, zero-lot-line lot access, street-use permits for scaffolding, and the salt-air corrosion that changes what materials actually make sense here. If you’re planning a kitchen remodel, a full General Contractor renovation, an ADU, or an exterior upgrade, call (866) 472-1908 to talk through scope and schedule with people who know the difference between a Richmond district flat lot and a hillside Victorian in Noe Valley.
Why San Bruno Construction Is San Francisco’s Preferred General Contractor
San Francisco homeowners keep coming back to us for one reason above all: we run the whole job under one contract, one schedule, and one accountable point of contact. Noel Carvalho, who leads San Bruno Construction, built the company around a simple idea. Instead of a homeowner trying to coordinate a cabinet supplier, a roofing crew, a window installer, and a paver subcontractor, we do that coordination for you. We have access to 50+ vetted product brands across every major renovation category, so when a customer in San Francisco wants to compare KraftMaid cabinets against Wellborn, or GAF roofing against CertainTeed, the choice is a real one. Not whatever a subcontractor prefers to install.
Local knowledge matters in this city. We know that a deck on 46th Avenue in the Sunset faces salt spray and fog that rust standard galvanized hardware within a decade. We know that a remodel in a 1908 Edwardian in the Mission District means encountering knob-and-tube wiring and a clay sewer lateral that DBI will require you to upgrade. And we know that the permit process at the Department of Building Inspection moves at its own pace, so we sequence the work accordingly. That’s the kind of familiarity that protects a renovation budget and a homeowner’s sanity.
Styles & brands we work with







Remodeling Contractor in San Francisco
Remodeling Contractor work in San Francisco covers kitchens, bathrooms, whole-home renovations, and structural repairs that older housing stock makes necessary. A full kitchen remodel in San Francisco typically runs $16,520 to $53,100, and a bathroom remodel runs $10,620 to $33,040, though the final number depends on what the existing walls conceal. In this city, what’s behind a wall is usually older than the homeowner expects. When you hire us as your remodeling contractor, we bring the licensed trades under our umbrella and manage the sequence so the plumbing rough-in happens before the cabinets are ordered, not after.
Coastal-Spec Materials, Not Inland-Spec
The fog belt changes the math on a remodel in San Francisco. Exterior finishes, deck hardware, and window frames that last decades in Concord or Walnut Creek fail early here. On a Victorian in the Inner Sunset, our crew replaced a redwood deck where the original galvanized joist hangers had rusted through after 12 years of fog exposure, causing the ledger board to pull away from the house. We switched to stainless-steel structural screws and hot-dip galvanized Simpson Strong-Tie connectors, and sealed all paver joints with a marine-grade polyurethane to block moisture intrusion. That’s the difference between a remodel that holds and one that rots from the inside out.
Interior Remodel Sequencing with Permit Realities
A San Francisco remodel often triggers upgrades you didn’t budget for, but we flag them early. If you’re opening walls in a 94114 Victorian, DBI may require the clay sewer lateral to be replaced or the electrical system brought to code. We don’t let that become a surprise change order in month four. We inspect, we document, and we price the real scope before demolition starts.
Licensed General Contractor in San Francisco
A Licensed General Contractor in San Francisco carries the responsibility for pulling DBI permits, hiring and coordinating the licensed specialty trades, passing inspections, and delivering the finished project. San Bruno Construction operates as that single accountable point for interior remodels, exterior upgrades, hardscaping, and ADU or prefab builds through brands like Abodu, Dvele, and Plant Prefab. A home addition in San Francisco typically runs $53,100 to $153,400, and an ADU construction runs $106,200 to $259,600. Those numbers reflect the real cost of building in a city with seismic requirements, steep lots, and material staging constraints.
Soft-Story and Seismic Scope
Many San Francisco remodels on 2-4 story wood-frame buildings intersect with the city’s Mandatory Soft Story Retrofit Ordinance. If your building has a garage at street level over a soft first story, a remodel can trigger retrofit requirements. We coordinate that with the renovation scope so you’re not doing demolition twice. The retrofit work gets engineered, permitted, and inspected, and the remodel continues on schedule.
Zero-Lot-Line Access and Street-Use Permits
On hillside streets in neighborhoods like Noe Valley, the lots are often so tight that there’s no side yard to stage materials. We routinely build under a street-use permit, which closes a lane or a section of sidewalk for scaffolding and material delivery. That’s a San Francisco-specific cost line. We don’t wave it away, we line-item it in the estimate so the final number matches the actual work.
Trusted Brands We Service in San Francisco
San Bruno Construction maintains active relationships with brands our customers actually want in San Francisco, across roofing, windows, cabinetry, countertops, plumbing fixtures, siding, and fencing — including Kohler in San Francisco. That includes fiberglass and thermally broken window systems from ES Windows and ECO Window Systems, plus glass and storefront work through Mr-Glass and CWS. Having real access to these lines means a homeowner in the Richmond district can specify marine-grade finishes and stainless hardware instead of settling for whatever the vendor has on hand. We order direct, we schedule delivery around the permit timeline, and we don’t make substitutions without the homeowner’s sign-off.
See the difference
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After
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After
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AfterCommon General Contractor Problems We See in San Francisco Homes
- Electro-galvanized fasteners on exterior decks and fences. In the fog belt, zinc-plated screws and hangers rust through in a few years, well before the wood fails. We specify stainless or hot-dip galvanized hardware on every exterior elevation.
- Ground-contact fence posts with no marine rating. Standard pine or cedar posts set in San Francisco soil lean and rot within five years. We use pressure-treated, ground-contact-rated posts and stainless brackets, especially on west-facing lots in the Sunset.
- Aluminum-clad window frames pitting in salt air. The marine layer along 94111 and 94115 pocks and discolors thin aluminum cladding. We recommend fiberglass or thermally broken aluminum with a marine-grade finish for any window on a west or north elevation.
- Dry rot on west-facing trim and siding. The wet winters and persistent fog keep the Pacific side of a house damp for months. We find concealed rot behind original siding on nearly every exterior remodel. The fix starts with proper flashing and marine-grade caulking, not just replacement boards.
Pricing for General Contractor in San Francisco, CA
Pricing below reflects what we see across San Francisco’s market in 2026. Salt-air hardware upgrades, street-use permits, and seismic scope all move the number. A roof replacement in San Francisco typically runs $9,440 to $23,600, and if you want the coastal-spec version with stainless flashing and hot-dip fasteners, the cost sits toward the upper end of that range. That extra spend buys decades of service life in the fog, not a higher margin for us. We write line-item quotes, so you can see exactly what each material and trade costs.
| Project | Market Price Range in San Francisco |
|---|---|
| Kitchen Remodel | $16,520 – $53,100 |
| Bathroom Remodel | $10,620 – $33,040 |
| Roof Replacement | $9,440 – $23,600 |
| Window Replacement | $5,310 – $17,700 |
| Paver Patio Installation | $4,130 – $12,980 |
The coastal-spec price gap is real. An inland roof replacement with standard galvanized flashing might quote $10,000. The same roof with stainless flashing, hot-dip fasteners, and marine-grade sealant might run $15,000. The cheap spec fails within a decade in the fog belt. The coastal spec doesn’t. That’s the math we recommend to every San Francisco homeowner, and the estimate we provide is always free.
We Also Serve Cities Near San Francisco
Our crews run projects throughout San Francisco and the surrounding neighborhoods, including Mission District, Noe Valley, Chinatown, and Visitacion Valley. Each area brings its own stock: pre-1906 Victorians, post-war stucco boxes, and hillside lots with party walls. We work from 94111 to 94115 and everywhere between.
Serving San Francisco, CA — Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the San Francisco area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage — if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs About General Contractor in San Francisco
The salt air and marine fog off the Pacific accelerate corrosion on any zinc-plated or electro-galvanized metal, and west-facing elevations in neighborhoods like the Sunset and Richmond get the worst of it. Standard hardware that lasts 30 years in Lafayette can fail in 8-12 years here. We specify stainless-steel structural screws and hot-dip galvanized Simpson Strong-Tie connectors on every exterior deck and fence we build in San Francisco. Call (866) 472-1908 for a free estimate on a coastal-spec deck or fence replacement.
Cool, damp air and low sun exposure slow the cure on paint and stucco, so a west-side remodel in July can still have moisture sitting in the finish for days. That leads to premature peeling, chalky stucco, and lap marks on siding if the crew rushes the schedule. We build extra dry time into the calendar and use exterior coatings rated for high-moisture environments. The schedule accounts for fog the way a Midwest schedule accounts for frost.
Expect to pay roughly 30-50% more for a coastal-spec roof in San Francisco: stainless flashing, hot-dip galvanized fasteners, and marine-grade sealant instead of standard galvanized materials. A roof replacement in San Francisco runs $9,440 to $23,600, and the coastal-spec version sits toward the top of that range. The cheaper spec will fail within a decade on a fog-exposed elevation. The coastal spec typically doubles the service life. We line-item both options so you decide with real numbers, not a sales pitch. Call (866) 472-1908 to schedule a free roofing estimate.
If your building is a 2-4 story wood-frame structure with a large opening at street level, like a garage, it may fall under San Francisco’s Mandatory Soft Story Retrofit Ordinance, and that work requires engineering and DBI permits separate from a remodel permit. The smart move is to sequence the retrofit with the renovation so you don’t demolish the same walls twice. We coordinate both permits under one schedule and one contract. The retrofit scope gets priced from the start, not as a surprise later.
On a zero-lot-line lot in neighborhoods like Noe Valley or the Mission, your Victorian shares a wall with the building next door, and any foundation or seismic work means protecting that neighbor’s structure. We install temporary shoring, document the pre-construction condition with photos and measurements, and coordinate access with the adjacent owner before any excavation. The goal is zero movement in the party wall. That’s a standard part of how we build in San Francisco, not an optional add-on.
Ready to price your renovation, ADU, or exterior upgrade? Call (866) 472-1908 to schedule a free estimate with San Bruno Construction. We’ll walk the site, talk through the real material choices for San Francisco’s salt air and fog, and give you a line-item quote you can take to any lender or architect.
Written by Noel Carvalho, Owner at San Bruno Construction, serving San Francisco since day one.